Margaret Ritchie, Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick

The Right Honourable The Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick
Official portrait, 2022
Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party
In office 7 February 2010 – 5 November 2011
Deputy	Patsy McGlone
General Sec.	Gerry Cosgrove
Chairman	Joe Byrne
Preceded by	Mark Durkan
Succeeded by	Alasdair McDonnell
Minister for Social Development
In office 8 May 2007 – 7 February 2010
First Minister	Ian Paisley Peter Robinson Arlene Foster (Acting)
Preceded by	Nigel Dodds
Succeeded by	Alex Attwood
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 November 2019 Life peerage
Member of Parliament for South Down
In office 6 May 2010 – 3 May 2017
Preceded by	Eddie McGrady
Succeeded by	Chris Hazzard
Member of the Legislative Assembly for South Down
In office 26 November 2003 – 31 March 2012
Preceded by	Eddie McGrady
Succeeded by	Seán Rogers
Personal details
Born	(1958-03-25) 25 March 1958 (age 66) Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Labour (2021–present)[1]
Other political affiliations	Independent (2019–2021)[2] SDLP (1980–2019)[3]
Alma mater	Queen's University Belfast
Website	Official website

Margaret Mary Ritchie, Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (born 25 March 1958), is an Irish politician who was the Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 2010 to 2011. She was previously a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Down from 2003 to 2012, and was the Minister for Social Development in the Northern Ireland Executive from 2007 to 2010. Ritchie was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Down from 2010 to 2017. She became a life peer in 2019 initially as a non-affiliated member, and then from October 2021 as a Labour member.